The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Shadow War Between Iran And Israel Erupts Into Open Warfare - Ari Lieberman

The shadow war between Israel and Iran burst into open warfare over
the weekend with a brazen and reckless Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) intrusion into Israeli airspace. The drama unfolded on Saturday at
4:25 a.m. when an Iranian reconnaissance drone, believed to be a
knockoff of the American RQ-170 Sentinel UAV, penetrated into Israeli
airspace for approximately 90 seconds before being shot down by an
Israeli Apache attack helicopter of the 113th Squadron near the Israeli town of Bet Shean in the Jordan Valley.

Israeli intelligence had been monitoring the aircraft and its flight
path soon after it took off from an Iranian controlled airbase called T4
located near the Syrian city of Palmyra. Immediately after intercepting
the drone, the Israeli Air Force attacked the command and control
vehicle responsible for controlling and monitoring the UAV, and
obliterated it.

Returning IAF aircraft were met with a hail of
anti-aircraft fire. According to Israeli sources, the Syrians fired
between 15 and 20 antiaircraft missiles. One of them, believed to be
either a long-range SA-5 or medium-range SA-17, locked on to an F-16
Sufa fighter bomber and exploded near the aircraft, peppering the jet
with shrapnel.

Both pilot and navigator safely ejected and
the plane crashed in a field in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Fortunately, no
civilians were hurt. The navigator will likely be released from the
hospital today or tomorrow, while the pilot is still recovering from
abdominal injuries but is said to be fully conscience [sic] and breathing on
his own. His condition continues to improve and doctors are optimistic.

It was the first time that an Israel jet fighter had been shot down
since June 1982 when an A-4 Sky Hawk was shot down over Beirut during
the initial phases of Operation Peace for Galilee. In 1983, an F-4
Phantom crashed in Lebanon but that was due to a technical malfunction
rather than hostile fire. In 2006, an Israeli Yassur heavy-lift
transport helicopter was shot down by a MANPADS fired by Hezbollah
terrorists.

Immediately following the crash, Israel launched a furious and devastating
bombardment against Syrian and Iranian military positions, attacking
twelve military sites throughout the country. Four of those sites were
Iranian bases and encampments while the remaining sites were Syrian
anti-aircraft missile batteries and military bases including a base
belonging to the Syrian army’s 104th airborne division.

Brig.
Gen. Tomer Bar, the deputy head of the IAF termed the attack as, “the
biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against
Syrian air defenses since Operation Peace for the Galilee.” During that
conflict, the IAF destroyed 19 Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries
while swatting 80 Syrian MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters from the skies, for
no losses.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least six Assad regime fighters
and their allies were killed in the wave of attacks but the death toll
is expected to climb. As is their wont, neither the Syrian government
nor the Iranians provided casualty figures.

Delirious Shia and
supporters of the Assad regime cheered in the capitals of Tehran,
Damascus and Beirut upon hearing news of the F-16’s demise. Such
celebrations are beyond absurd. The fact that after thousands of sorties
over hostile territory, a single jet was downed does not mean that
Israel has lost air supremacy. To claim otherwise is utter nonsense.
Moreover, the myopic celebrants, drunk on phantom victories glaringly
ignored other notable aspects of the military encounter; chiefly, the
rapid interception of the UAV, the destruction of its command and
control vehicle, and the destruction and devastation wrought upon
multiple Iranian and Syrian bases hit in the wave of Israeli retaliatory
strikes.

There are a number of takeaways from this engagement.

The Islamic Republic had tried to dictate the rules of the game by
launching a UAV into Israel. They failed in this regard. The IDF’s quick
and devastating response put to rest any foolhardy Iranian notions that
Israel will ignore future border transgressions and further Iranian
entrenchment in Syria. If anything, it was Israel, by its swift and
overwhelming reaction to Iranian aggression that changed the rules of
the game. Iranian outposts throughout Syria and beyond will no longer be
immune to attack.

The Syrian Army does not exactly have a
stellar record in shooting down Israeli aircraft. Were Russian advisers
present and advising their Syrian underlings when the missiles were
launched? Even worse, were the Russians actually manning the batteries?
The answers to these questions may never be known but an Israeli-Iranian
clash and heightened regional tensions run counter to Russian
interests. Israel and Russia have maintained continuous dialogue through
diplomatic and military channels in an effort to avoid military
confrontations and lower tensions. Indeed, just ten days prior to the
incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow for talks with
his counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two leaders enjoy a good
business-like relationship.

Obama’s foreign policies
continue to have a lingering, deleterious effect. The Iran deal provided
the Iranians with a badly needed cash infusion. The $1.7 billion in
cash that Obama transferred to the Iranians on wooden pallets and the
billions of dollars Iran received from sanctions relief have been channeled
to fuel their overseas wars. Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and its use
of UAVs to violate Israeli airspace is a direct consequence of the Iran
deal.

The Iranian UAV was a knockoff
of the American RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone. Iran captured a Sentinel in
2011 when one crashed in Iran under mysterious circumstances. There has
been speculation
that Iranian cyber hackers intercepted the Sentinel’s data link or
otherwise misdirected it by hacking into its GPS. Whether it crashed by
itself or was hacked, the Sentinel and all of its technology fell into
Iranian hands relatively intact. Obama asked the Iranians to return the
UAV and the Iranians naturally refused and likely reversed engineered
the UAV with the help of the Russians and Chinese. But Obama had another
option that involved bombing and destroying the Sentinel after its
seizure by the Iranians. As former vice president Dick Cheney
noted, “The right response to [Iran’s seizure] would have been to go in
immediately after it had gone down and destroy it.” Cheney added that
it could have been accomplished with an airstrike but instead, Obama,
“asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren't going to.”

The events of the weekend make clear that we are entering a dangerous
new phase of Iranian malignancy. The reversals suffered by anti-Assad
rebels have enabled Iran to concentrate its aggressive efforts beyond
the Syrian battleground. It’s safe to say that the only regional power
capable of blunting and even reversing Iran’s expansion is Israel.

Ari LiebermanSource: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269300/shadow-war-between-iran-and-israel-erupts-open-ari-lieberman Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

1 comment:

There is really nothing diplomatic or legal that the Iranians can do in retaliation. To me, it is awesome that the IAF swooped into the lawless Arab area and conducted proper business. Am sorry those two guys got hurt during the crash, and hope the best.